A BETTER B.A.D. IS ON TOUR, JONES SAYS

C Summer's British Invasion, when groups such as EMF and Jesus Jones hit the top of the charts with songs that mixed rock chords with dance music energy, could be very good for B.A.D.

Big Audio Dynamite has been instrumental in forging such sounds -- mostly to the delight of cultish college music audiences -- since Mick Jones formed the group after being booted out of the Clash in the mid-'80s.

"We left the blueprints out, didn't we?" Jones laughs over the phone from London. "Everybody had a look." But Jones says he's happy at the success of that newfangled sound, and especially at how it will affect the new version of the band (titled B.A.D. II), the latest album (titled "The Globe") and their new U.S. tour (which stops at Toad's Place in New Haven tonight).

The new edition of B.A.D., featuring younger sidemen Nick Hawkins, Gary Stonadge and Chris Kavanagh, as well as band leader Jones, is called "II" because "It's sort of a sequel," Jones says. "The only difference is that this sequel is better than the original one. Not many sequels are. I thought `Ghostbusters 2' may have been better, in my opinion. But definitely `Godfather II' was better than the first.

"We're at least as good as the original band," he says. "We've got everything the first one had, plus we've got extra ingredients, like two guitars, and we're taking on more stuff. For instance, we play live with a DJ who, in between numbers, plays all sorts of records. And we've integrated with our songs by using the DJ, too." The original aggregation parted by mutual consent at the end of the '80s. "I felt with the oncoming new decade, I wanted to have a fresh start," Jones says.

He knew Stonadge for years as a buddy who accompanied him to local football games. "He had been playing with the other guys at the time," Jones says. "And I kind of took their band over." B.A.D. II has been playing together since the beginning of last year, recording the new album but taking a break during the Persian Gulf war. "I found it a bit difficult to work then. It gave me a different perspective on things, you know." When the war ended, work resumed on "The Globe," which has since succeeded in topping

the U.S. alternative music charts with the single "Rush." "With the other albums, we've never gotten as far before as we have this time. So it's exciting. But we miss some of the vibe over here, because we never hear ourselves on the radio. Or very, very rarely." Lately, though, Jones has had the odd sensation of having a song he wrote for the Clash, his last band, go to the top of the charts in England because of its use in a popular blue jeans commercial.

"Ironically, it's the first No. 1 the Clash has had in the U.K.," Jones says. "However, it did a lot of good, because it turned a whole lot of new people on to the Clash. And there was a reappraisal of the Clash in general through it." The hit status of "Should I Stay or Should I Go," which was originally released nine years ago, served "in a way, as a front for all the Clash songs that couldn't be on adverts." And there are, of course, a number of them, from "London's Burning" and "I'm So Bored With the U.S.A." to "Washington Bullets," "Lost in the Supermarket," "Death or Glory" and "Straight to Hell." The idea of a Clash song used for any television commercial seems weird.

But Jones, who wrote "Should I Stay" and agreed to its use, says, "I think you really have to face up to what it's like living now. I might not have done that 10 years ago. But now I feel a whole lot of different things going on that you have to react to." A new video was shot from the outtakes of the Shea Stadium live show that provided the first video. "A few people told me you don't look anything like you look on your video," Jones says. "And I say, `Well I tell you, I only did it last week. But it's been a busy week.' " When the original video was shot, on a drizzly night in New York, the Clash were opening a huge tour for the Who. "It was one of their farewell tours," Jones says. "It was a great honor for us to be asked to do it. It was brilliant, actually. We were very excited about it. It helped us immensely.

"We were kind of being set up to be the successors of the Who," he says. "In retrospect, you can see that, but I didn't know it at the time. We were just doing it as a fantastic break for us. Subsequently, `Combat Rock' did real well in America." To this day, he samples Who songs liberally -- "Baba O'Reilly" pops up on "Rush" -- but asks permission first. "I always send a tape to Pete Townshend," Jones says. "He's always been very supportive, right from the time of the Clash." To those who raise the inevitable question, Jones is quick to say, "The Clash ain't going to get back together again. But they are very concerned with reissues coming out representing us. We've got a good relationship between ourselves, and we want to be involved in these reissues and make sure they're done the right way. Because it's still our music. It represents us, you know." Not that his band plays any of the old Clash songs.

"We do old B.A.D. stuff," he says. "But we do updated B.A.D. II styles of it -- revamped, refastened, reconstructed." If Jones recently came to terms with the Clash, he came to terms with his own mortality when a bout of chicken pox in 1988 became complicated and threatened his life. "It was a period of great enlightenment for me about a lot of stuff by nearly dying," Jones says. "Obviously, you better appreciate your life. But it's very easy to revert back to how you were before you were in the hospital.

"I feel a lot better about things," Jones says. "But to get to that point, it's been a pretty rough ride. Now I'm there. I know

what I can do. I know what I'm good at doing, what I'm capable of. I guess that's what it's all about." It's good to see the success of other British bands in the United States this year, Jones says. "One of the problems with B.A.D. -- and this whole Clash thing made me realize this -- is that I sometimes want to do more and I forget what I'm good at, which is like chord and melody. I always try to do more than that. Maybe we should try not to be so ahead of our time." Big Audio Dynamite II performs tonight at Toad's Place in New Haven. Doors open at 8 p.m.; music starts at 9:30 with Downtown Science. Tickets are $16.50 in advance, $18 at the door. For information, call 777-7431